


When the Body Speaks

by gratefulsugar



Category: Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie
Genre: Absent Parents, Consensual Underage Sex, Death, Depression, Explicit Consent, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Neverland (Peter Pan), Past Character Death, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenage Drama, Teenagers, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:49:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27258964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gratefulsugar/pseuds/gratefulsugar
Summary: Dani and her parents were in a horrific accident just weeks before her seventeenth birthday. She survived, they didn't and ever since then she's felt abandoned, completely alone. One night she hopes to end her misery. Whilst freezing in the garden at her elusive uncle's familial estate, her aching soul calls forth a charming companion of old. Peter Pan goes through some changes. Rated M medium-burn
Relationships: Peter Pan (Peter Pan) & Original Character(s), Peter Pan (Peter Pan) & Original Female Character(s), original - Relationship
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter One

**AN** : I have always been a fan of the stories of Peter Pan. This is my own take on your run of the mill, cliché fic where a slightly older girl goes to Neverland and causes physical changes to Peter. There will absolutely be smut. **This story is rated M for a reason**. There will be harsh language, mentions of death, alcohol abuse, crude humor and explicit depictions of sex. If I'm feeling extra, extra plotty, perhaps gritty violence as well. This has been a warning, you have been officially advised.

Regardless please enjoy. This is only meant to be fun, it's really just for myself and I'm not making any money from this. I do not own the rights to Peter Pan but a children's hospital with a name I forget does. **AU** because we all have creative license and I prefer to use it.

To those of you who came here hoping this was an update on one of my other fics I am deeply sorry but honestly I've been working on a legitimate book series this past year. It's a fair bit more important to me currently, that's why my stories have been collecting dust. I will get back to them at some point. However I really wanted to get this Peter Pan idea out of my head so here we are.

 **When the Body Speaks**  
 **Chapter One**  
-o-

**1994**

The grandfather clock in the hall struck one in the morning.

Danielle stared idly out the large bedroom window. Her sleep-deprived eyes pored unseeingly over the lamp-lit, posh urban scene which swallowed the ancestral estate she was currently residing. The relentless visions within haunted her day and night, sweeping her away into the heavy abyss of her imprisoned mind. She was a trillion lightyears away, magnetized to another time. This happened to her quite often these days.

These days.

They were fucking awful, the worst _ever_. She didn't understand – no, not one bit, why she did not die too, along with her dearest mum and dad. Danielle felt she didn't deserve to be there, sitting around alive and breathing when they, they... and she could never stop the tears, could not consistently keep it together while she was alone or otherwise. Surely she would've become a nuisance, a burden to those around her, if only there were actually someone to be around.

In the three, almost four months Dani had lived at the charmed familial home in Kensington Gardens, her Uncle John rarely ever came back. Truly, he was rather famous. Years ago he'd cofounded a band – _Sheep Dog_ – with two of his mates and they'd gone and gotten very popular. Yes, the family name _did_ happen to rest upon a disgustingly indecent amount of wealth but with just the talents of his music John had so far earned himself a handsome sum. Therefore he more often camped at his preferred, two-story penthouse which he shared with the other band members.

It was clearly a party-place. Danielle wasn't a moron, she'd heard stories and he certainly hadn't been hiding it from her whenever he showed his face back in Kensington Gardens. Uncle John was a lush, a sad alcoholic who shut himself away from outsiders, and, and... and Danielle wished he hadn't deemed _her_ as such, an outsider. Did he not care at all they were family, blood-related? She was his sister's daughter, his _dead_ sister's daughter and it was like he didn't even blink.

If she weren't factoring in the funeral, Danielle had maybe met John a handful of times – mostly by fluke when he'd been sleuthing in and out, the thought of checking in on her not even occurring to him. I mean, wasn't he an adult? He _was_ , he was like forty-something but never acted like it! He seemed to think he was some sort of youthful, party-hungry college boy except unlike a lot of wayward students the man at least had direction.

She only wished sometimes his direction would focus on her for even just half a second, instead of his career or the drug and booze-addled soiree's he couldn't stay away from... but those yearned for moments never came – the wilted opportunities passing with an uncomfortable abruptness, a _silence_ that'd left Danielle choking on the atmosphere.

She was only seventeen, just turned on the nineteenth of November two months ago now. What a fucking novelty birthday it was too. Nary a word from a soul, not anyone who truly counted anyway. The elderly housekeeper, Geraldine was nice enough and had proffered Dani a wholesome platter of assorted biscuits that morning but regretfully, it still wasn't of course, quite the loving affection Dani craved. Yes she'd nibbled on a few of the flaky baked treats, which was saying a lot as of late but the only thing Dani wanted – _needed_ – was the safe, warming embrace of her mother and an award-winning toothy smile, a pat on the back from her father.

Suddenly, the dull noiselessness of the house had gained on her and Danielle stood then, pacing around the room briefly before grabbing her warm coat. It felt far too stiff inside and she very much wanted some fresh air. As she left her mother's old room she paused outside the door across from it.

She stared for a moment, into the large dark nursery which had housed many a child through the generations, the decades. It was almost like she could hear the merry laughter and singing of old resounding in the mostly empty space now, from the ghosts of the last hundred years. A chill needled along her neck and starkly unsettled somehow, Danielle walked brusquely along the corridor down the grand staircase and out into the private garden.

It was the middle of January, and had already snowed several times over that winter – that _freezing_ winter that'd shown no mercy to her. The numbing cold was but a mirror of the frigid heart of ice that'd somehow beat within her still.

October the second – that miserable night she relived over and over, like a personal hell Danielle could never evade, would never. She lived it just now, had not outrun the pain since it'd happened – the accident.

It'd been raining, as was the typical, standard gateway towards an unfortunate ending. One minute they were all chuckling about how comical the disc-jockey on the radio was when from nowhere an oncoming vehicle lost control and hit them head on.

Danielle lived.

Fred and Margaret Byrnes did not.

She had flashbacks, torturous fractions of instances but Danielle could not remember much. Just the lonely feeling of complete helplessness and vulnerability. It was the emptiness of not knowing, of not being able to see anything, to see them or comprehend... to finally, when the realization set in and the emptiness grew and grew. It never stopped, was eating her all up. Danielle reckoned not much would be left. She'd be gone too, soon.

Oh, how she wished though.

Why, _why_ had she lived? Dani's breath puffed out from her in fog as white as the snow before her. It'd struck her then, resolutely. She could not see another way out and even if she could, she did not want to _know_ another way, or if anything could ever actually get better for her. She refused any other life without her parents in it. Nobody else cared for her.

She removed her long coat, tossing it to the frozen ground and forgetting about it without hesitance. Danielle was brave and kept her spine straight, striding tall even as she quaked in her boots. Plopping herself down on the desolate stone bench beneath the great leafless tree, she decidedly ignored the way the cold of the solid seat invaded her.

Despite shivering sharply, Dani was sullen, her gaze made of steel as she wept there. The tears stung icily along the raw flesh of her cheeks and she sniffed, peeling off her gloves to set them aside. She wanted to die out there. Hypothermia, she hoped. She would be reunited with her mum and dad once and for all. Everything would finally be okay.

Danielle would remain forever seventeen, forever young. She rather liked that idea, the notion of it.

"I don't ever, ever want to grow up," Dani growled into the night, to no one. There was never someone, she was always all alone. At least, if she were dead she wouldn't be in this reality of loss, abandonment and neglect.

And from an unknown distance, unbeknownst to Danielle her tragic aura and woeful thoughts were just enough to summon an old family friend. However he was of course, not the usual sort for he was still but a boy, the wonder of a child glistening in his eyes.

He'd found himself flying away, an unexplainable deep yearning of his own guiding him on a path he knew he'd travelled many times before. It wasn't until he landed down on a column at the fence in a very familiar yard did the memories invade him. How could he have forgotten? Suddenly he recalled them _all_ – his friends, his companions. There'd been Maggie, her brother John, before that Jane and _her_ baby brother... there was Wendy, oh Wendy.

Yes, he'd... understood. Or well, he tried to anyway, to wrap his mind around why they left, why they'd all wanted to grow up. None of them, not even his original boys, cared to stick around. They'd all wanted mothers, or if he was referring to the girls, to _be_ mothers and wives themselves.

Pan only wanted to stay the way he was – young and strong, and free from the burden of true pain. This experience just left him to figure that over time, as his companions became adults and eventually forgot Neverland that Peter too, forgot about them.

Yet now it came crashing back to him and he was trapped in a swirl of emotions. He hadn't even realized his feet were crunching along the snow as he stared up at the window, the memories literally flooring him. As much as his spirit ached to, in this instance Peter could not bring himself to hover by the house and gaze into the rooms he long ago traipsed about.

"Who's there?"

A small and shaking, frightened voice startled him and he turned 'round, shocked to see a tear-stricken girl holding herself in the chilly night on the bench. She was pale and freezing, her lips turning blue. Peter very much had a lot of questions.

Danielle glowered at this intruder, her fists balling angrily. "How did you g-get in?" she questioned but the boy still had yet to formulate a response. "Hopped the ff-fence did you? C-Come to steal all the valuables no-no d-doubt," Dani snuffled, her nose completely stuffed.

"You're sad," was his infuriating answer. "You shouldn't be out here like this in the cold."

"Excuse m-me? I sh-shall do whatev-ver I please," Danielle fumed, getting a better look at him as he stepped closer. He was almost glowing there, his skin looking so bronzed and sun kissed as if he'd been on a hot beach his whole life. It was a stark-contrast to the bone-white alabaster of the snow and compared to her, he was border-line naked.

He was wearing a vest and shorts that appeared to be leaf-woven? There was what must've been netting beneath the vest as a sort of makeshift, long-sleeved tunic. It looked like actual real fishnets – not like those skimpy black tights the unfriendly, grungy slags at her new school often wore but brown and almost shriveled at the ends. It was as if this boy had really fished with the nets himself and then from it, made clothing.

"And-d what ab-bout you? You are the one who's pr-practically ss-starkers," she said and he actually giggled.

Peter was grinning, "I guess that's true but I only just arrived! It looks like you've been out here for a while," the boy then appraised her, peering down at her with immense curiosity from his standing position though if Danielle were to have stood she would have been taller. What was he, fourteen?

"Pl-Please le-leave," she shuddered, muttering, "'Trespassing,"

"Do you know Maggie, by chance?" he had the audacity to ask and Dani's brain imploded.

She was as still as a statue, the oxygen around her seeming to be sucked through a vacuum and she couldn't breathe... but then Dani willed herself to stare upon the boy again, to catch his twinkling eye. "Jusst _how_ do you kn-know that name?" Peter only continued to scrutinize her from above, within his mind thinking who this girl could be in relation to his old friends. "Who _are_ you?"

"Why I'm Peter, Peter Pan," he dipped low into gallant bow and when he straightened up, tossed to the side his shaggy fringe of wavy auburn locks. The confidence was rolling from him in palpable waves, a playful smirk upon his lips.

Dani swallowed a ball of nerves, a sense of what she was sure was dread tingling through her spine. "Peter P-Pan?"

"Surely you've heard of me!" he waved dismissively, his demeanor very smooth but also perhaps arrogant.

"No, I haven't actually!" she found herself shrieking, standing up from the bench forthrightly. Peter jumped back, a bit surprised by her outburst. "Are you joking? Absolutely ridiculous, you can't just waltz onto someone's lawn as if, as if you just know them!" Danielle realized suddenly she wasn't as cold as mere seconds before, for now she felt riled up. Her adrenaline was pumping.

The boy, Peter shuffled his feet, glancing sideways awkwardly, "But I do," he countered. "I knew Wendy and Michael and John," Dani froze then, her heart bounding against her ribcage. "The old boys went home with them – so long ago. I missed them, all of them so I came back and that's when I met Jane,"

"Jane?" Danielle questioned breathlessly, the jolly face of her dear old Nana Jane careening inside her mind. "Nana Jane..." she whispered. "But how did you..."

This Peter was a _boy_! Nana Jane passed away long ago. Dani was maybe five years old at the time. It wasn't logical, made _no_ sense.

"Then... then there was Maggie. I-I forgot about _everything_ but... I see it all again now. All of their faces,"

Dani stomped her little foot, annoyed at this all. How could he? How could this boy come in here like this and speak of such... such blatant _nonsense_! To top it off he was dressed like a homeless Tarzan boy except at least this boy, Peter had more clothes on.

"What are you talking about?" she fussed. "You knew my mother? My grandmother? But when? You're like twelve," she knew he was likely older than this but it felt satisfying to belittle him, nonetheless.

"I don't _know_ how old I am, heh," he chuckled. "Quite young, I should say,"

How did he not know how old he was? He was toying with her! Danielle scoffed, a mocking tone in her voice, "Heh, yeah you are. Exactly my point, so please tell me how it is you met Maggie,"

"I told you – I came _here_ ," Peter gestured towards the window at the nursery. "She was a little thing, busy bee. Small but strong," he described elatedly. "Her and _her_ brother, John I think it was, helped build us the best treehouse ever known," he threw out his arms wide to try and show just how big this thing might be. "And then..."

Was this boy completely mad, or was it she? Was it possible then that Dani had already died out there and just hadn't noticed? Was she a ghost, or was this somehow all an elaborate hallucination? "And then?"

"And then they went home to grow up, just like everyone always does," he spat, his whole manner doing a one-eighty. His jaw was set, an angry wrinkle between his brows. "They say they'd never forget me, but they do. They must, because how then would I forget about them? Bit by bit their faces left me, the stories we shared like distant dreams."

"Distant dreams," she repeated quietly, no longer looking at him. She was dazed and so very sad, sad for how betrayed this boy felt – sad for everything. "Just who are you, Peter?" Still, Danielle felt so interested, her spirit supremely ignited. She felt she needed to know him, that he was someone extremely special.

"Come with me and I'll show you. I'll take you to a beautiful place where you never have to grow up, a place where your mother has been, and many mothers before you."

She was overcome with confusion, allowing herself to gaze back upon him then within the light of the sparkling moon. "I-I don't understand," she offered meekly, her expression skeptical but Peter was now standing right before her, smiling warmly.

He extended a hand, "Trust me," he purred coyly, all theatrics. "You'll want to see, see Neverland. I can show you an oasis! My island is full of jungles, green lagoons and hot springs! There's faeries, mermaids, native peoples, creatures you wouldn’t believe – even castle ruins and lush gardens all surrounded by the clearest waters you've ever seen,"

Despite herself Danielle was enraptured by how Peter described this place, how such a fantastical world could even exist. Her crystal, arctic-blue eyes glinted blithely. "How will we get there?" she humored the situation.

"We fly, of course," he replied, no big deal and she snickered at him.

Yes, she was positive now. Dani had one hundred percent kicked the bucket. If they were _actually_ about to fly away right then, there would be no doubt in her mind she was deader than dead and this was simply just the beginning of the journey through her afterlife.

"Heh, well alright. _How_ do we fly then?"

He revealed a small pouch, cupping a bit of the sandy glittering substance inside. "Pixie dust," Peter sprinkled a bit of it atop Dani's head and she sneezed from the tingly, tickly sensation but... nothing happened. "You've got to think happy thoughts!"

"Happy thoughts?" these words were distasteful and Danielle almost laughed. She was grumbling grouchily and feeling quite foolish, doused there in gritty, golden sparkles. "I-I – that is just... not a possibility right now."

"Hmm..." Peter hummed, then brazenly swept her up in his arms. Dani yelped, feeling her feet leave the ground but he held her against him tightly. In one lunge, a fluid swoop they were gone, breezing into the night sky.

Kensington Gardens was fading in the distance and she felt a scream escape her as they soared over the City of London, the Tower and Westminster Abbey. "We'll just have to get you happy later," he chuckled as if this was nothing, like flying around was normal and something he did frequently.

Dani was trying, she really was. She willed herself to believe she wasn't thousands of feet in the air, gliding past Big Ben on a Saturday but it was no use. Exhausted, frail and undernourished – Danielle lost consciousness.

-o-

 **AN** : I'm not sure I have anything to say for myself, except this is very fun to write even if its rubbish. If you actually read this I hope it was enjoyable so far. I can't be certain when I'll be getting the next chapter up but I'm currently working on it. I hope to post soon so if you like this story please give it a follow and leave a review! This fic is named after a lovely song by Depeche Mode. Cheers to you all in this trying time.


	2. Chapter Two

**AN** : This took me ages to complete, I am sorry it's not as long as I would have liked. I've been so busy, as well as distracted. Either way, I am still really enjoying writing this story and I plan on continuing it as much, and as quickly as I can. I've been working on a book series for the last year and most of my time writing has been sacrificed for that instead but I haven't forgotten about my fics. They are still my babies, though I wish I could rewrite/edit most of them.

I want to thank the one guest who left a review on fanfiction net for your kind words and the fact you said you check in often to see if I've updated. I hope you see this and get to read the chapter. I really hope you enjoy it too, if you do. Anyways, enough of me blabbering. Whoever reads this, thank you.

**When the Body Speaks**  
 **Chapter Two**  
-o-

Just as Danielle woke, there'd been a kaleidoscope behind her eyes. She felt so cozy, cocooned within warm furs, a handmade quilt. Dani sat up slowly, blinking and adjusting to the bright-lit, little wooden room – the big, nest-like bed she was in.

There was a tiny window with raggedy makeshift curtains. She looked out and could see the sun was high in an afternoon sky sparkling over a greened jungle canopy, the crisp salty scent of the ocean wafting through. So it was true then...

Either Dani had died and she was in her own sort of personal afterlife – limbo, heaven or hell she couldn't be sure yet – or she'd finally tumbled off the trolley and gone mad. If these were not her truths however, then... then that meant the boy who'd taken her was _real_ , that magic and flying were real and Dani didn't think she could accept any of this.

Where were her mother and father? She still very much wanted to be with them. She'd imagined vividly the boy, this whole ruse so if she _were_ simply delusional then how come she had not fever dreamed her parents into tangible existence yet?

Perhaps she – _gulp_ – really wasn't delusional.

There was a commotion from somewhere outside – chatter and clatter and laughter, the sounds of someone cooking over a crackling fire. Groggily Dani rose from the bed, glad to find she was still completely dressed – minus the boots, actually – before sliding open the wooden slab used as a door.

There she stepped into a living area with a couple of bookcases, scattered shelving and a large square coffee table. There were also two long tattered sofas and a hammock. Random novelty books and huge tomes that appeared ancient were strewn about in disorganized fashion.

Betwixt it all were random trinkets and treasures, worldly sculptures, wall ornaments and tapestries. A locked chest in the corner was filled with Dani could only guess, and had she mentioned the various weapons, the skins and trophies of dead animals? There were fox and skunk furs, rabbits and antelopes. Also a few colorful birds she couldn't identify, talons, claws and shark teeth...

Dani just about jumped from her bones when she noticed the boy had been there the whole time, snoozing comfortably in the hammock handcrafted from rope. He was hidden and covered with a ginormous bear skin. Everything she'd seen was either handmade, had been hunted for sport or looked as if it'd been acquired through some other means, like prizes and loot no doubt. These were the spoils of pirates, or marauders of a sort.

Yet who was the captain – er, the leader? Peter was only a boy. Danielle's head hurt. She was more than a bit befuddled, it was hard to tolerate it all as she stood balking in the wooden hut, staring somewhat bitterly at the dozing boy who'd seized her in the night.

The floorboard creaked beneath her knitted socks and Peter's eyes tore open, seeing and aware of her immediately. "Oh good, you're awake," he said, yawning and stretching like a lazy cat before getting out from the hammock excitedly. "You hungry? The boys are making dinner right now! Fished it this morning, just for you," he told her proudly. "You _do_ like fish, right? But if you don't that's not all, either. We have more. It's a feast in your honor!"

Dani couldn't help but feel grateful as her tummy rumbled inconveniently but the level of confusion and abruptness of it all was killing her. The questions piling up on the tip of her tongue, the lack of explanation – it was highly unsettling. "Th-Thank you," was her lame reply though, for she had _some_ sense of rectitude and she was quite thankful after all. Her curiosity felt immense and anywhere was better than alone in Kensington Gardens.

"Come, you'll want to meet the boys straight away," but she stopped him, her expression riddled with worry, her hand coming to rest on his forearm timidly. Now that he was really looking at her, Peter could clearly see she resembled her ancestors. She had those big blue eyes but almost grey and pretty light chestnut locks.

Her heart-shaped lips were pursed, as if she were thinking and did not know how to come up with the words. There were tiny, barely-there freckles grated over the expanse of her pale skin, skin that looked really soft to the touch and had he said she was pretty?

This... this girl was really almost, _almost_ a young woman. He could tell. She seemed rather distinct – round and full in certain areas of her body which he knew he was not supposed to stare at. She reminded him simultaneously of both a mermaid, and also mothers in general.

All at once, Peter was thinking that this might not end well for him. Something was different already, he could sense a change... it'd been sneaking up on him, an inkling in his toes but now it hit him suddenly. He didn't understand yet, couldn't but it was there, just itching on the surface.

It wasn't as if the girl – _young woman_ – wasn't allowed on Neverland – all walks of life might find their way sometime, one way or another but it was the children, the children who were special... and she was still, partly a child. His soul recognized hers as childlike and innocent, thus why he was able to hear the girl's sadness calling out for a savior – though she definitely hadn't realized it. She didn't want to grow up, looked like she wanted to die in the snow when he'd found her and Peter hadn't been about to let that happen.

"I don't know what's going on," she finally said, tears brimming at her eyes again. "I'm quite... I'm quite frightened."

"Don't be frightened!" he replied warmly. "Nothing scary that I can't protect you from! Tell me, what is it I can do to make you less scared?"

"Perhaps, you can start by giving me some good answers, I-I need to know more,"

"Of course, uh... wait, I just realized – I don't know your name!" he chuckled awkwardly, sheepishly. "I'm _so_ sorry, that is just _so_ like me you know," Peter groaned, agitated at himself.

"It's... okay, right?" she swallowed shyly, giving him a small smile. "My name is Danielle, but I prefer to be called Dani,"

"Danny?" Peter laughed. "That's a boy's name!"

"Yes well, it can be a girl's name too," she told him simply.

"I like it," he grinned a teasing grin. "It suits you, actually,"

' _How do you know what suits me?'_ Dani bit back her retort, because as she peered at him Peter seemed so genuine, his dazzling meadowy green eyes sincere. She didn't know for sure who in the hell he was but... he really was a handsome boy, wasn't he? A mischievous devil, yes but adorable. "It's spelled with an I, you know," she offered but Peter shrugged, as if he could care less about something so trivial.

"Go on then, Dani. Fire at will," he said, awaiting her interrogation.

Danielle motioned to the wooden cabin they were inside, to out the window where one could observe the veranda, the intricately built corridors and several huts supported by the three entangled trees. "Is this the great treehouse, the one you told me my mother, Maggie and Uncle John helped build?"

Peter nodded, "Yes."

"How old were they?"

He scratched his head, fingers vanishing beneath his mane of auburn waves. "I can't be sure. If I were to guess, I could say that Maggie was probably around nine, or ten maybe and your uncle was roughly the same height as me, so I always assumed he was about thirteen or fourteen – like me!"

"So you _do_ know how old you are," Dani countered but Peter shook his head, simpering.

"I'm not great with ages, or numbers in general,"

"I see,"

"So what else Dani?" His arms were crossed nonchalantly, patiently. A brow was arched, his smirk playful. He was so very mysterious.

Danielle sighed exasperatedly, the mild irritation returning. The might of anxiety did this to her, "What is this place? Neverland? Who are _you_ , a-and the boys? Are you all pirates?"

Peter's eyes widened comically, absolutely appalled before he was overrun with cackles of amusement. "Pirates?!" he clutched his belly as he fought for breath and Danielle's irritation escalated. "Oh definitely _not_ , Dani! I think if you were anyone else I'd be angry with that assumption, but it's okay."

Dani almost growled at him. The rage inside her felt too much to bear. How was she going to get a handle on herself? She took a deep breath and waited for Peter's laughter to subside.

"We're not pirates, no." Peter continued, clearing his throat as he settled down. "There _are_ pirates here, on Neverland but you don't want to go anywhere near them, alright? They are my sworn enemies, to me _and_ the Lost Boys. Got it, Dani?" He was up close to her face, his expression the most serious and stern she'd so far seen it.

"Y-Yes, of course," she stuttered, the fierceness of him unexpectedly intimidating. He had a sort of suppressed darkness, a supremely supernatural quality to him that Dani felt just then in her bones. A blackened aura had sprung forth, his eyes appearing to almost glow and this was when she was sure she'd like to never get on Peter's bad side.

"Good," he replied, his dark aura dissipating and demeanor calm again. Peter then paced a few steps, grabbing an archaic-type compass from a table and tossing it around in his hands. "I've been here for as long as I can remember. I know I had a life before this, long, long ago. It must have been just terrible, because somehow I was chosen. Here I am, here I stay and every once in a while, I'm allowed to grant passage to children... children who don't ever want to grow up. We stay this way forever, as we are – as long as we're in Neverland. At least, that's how I understand it. There is still a lot we don't understand, even after all this time."

Danielle did not answer, pretending not to look as shocked as she was by his admissions.

This must've been why he'd brought her here – she had practically asked for this. She vividly remembered sitting there on the bench in the snowfall, wishing with everything she felt to stay seventeen forever.

Fucking hell.

Peter observed her perplexed expression, the puzzle pieces fixing together. "This is how I found you. Your soul called to me, and... and Kensington Gardens is a special place too, somehow connected to Neverland. I think..." he trailed off for a moment, his green eyes glazing over. He was lost in a faraway memory, and then, "I think it is where I came from,"

"Woah," a chill crept up Danielle's neck and she shuddered briefly. "That's... that's just – _yeah_."

"As for Neverland, it will be best to _show_ you," Peter added coyly. "But no place to start without introducing you to the Boys first," he said chuckling and latched hold of her hand. "Come on, I know you're hungry!"

Danielle allowed him to lead her outside into the daylight and she blinked several times as the blinding sun stung her eyes. When her vision finally decoded her surroundings, she could see the five boys – all differing ages – standing around the firepit.

Peter introduced her blithely, "Boys, this is Dani." To her, Peter kind of sounded like he was their father, his voice so robust.

"Hi, Dani," some of them greeted, happy to see her.

"Hello," a few others, all in unison.

She waved to them, "Hello."

"Dani," said Peter. "I want you to meet the Lost Boys!" He beamed, stance proud. "Lost Boys – line up! Your names for Dani, one by one."

The five boys did as they were ordered and lined themselves horizontally. Each one stepped forward, then back.

The first one, a boy of maybe about ten or eleven with a mop of greasy brown hair. "My name is Timber, but you can call me Tim," he said.

"Dash," a boy who might've been twelve who's hair was jet black.

"Creek," said an angelic, blonde-haired lad. Perhaps he was twelve too? Danielle nodded politely, finding herself rather interested to know their stories. Had they, like Peter, forgotten about their previous lives?

Another boy, who appeared the same age as Peter, stepped forward. "My name is Leaf. I'm Creek's brother," he elbowed the angelic blonde and Danielle could definitely see the resemblance in their faces.

The last boy, a little thing. He was the youngest, probably only seven or eight years old. "I'm Filbert," he told her in his small, shy voice and Dani's heart of ice instantly melted.

She knelt down low to his level and stuck out her hand for him to shake. "It's so nice to meet you, Filbert." And Dani meant it, smitten with the smallest lad.

Filbert's sparkling eyes grew as large as saucers, accepting Danielle's handshake. "You too," he said, then turned to the leader of their group. "I like her, Peter,' Peter Pan smiled back at him, looking as if he were to reply but then Filbert added, "Is she going to be our mother?"

All of the boys got excited, gasping and glancing around at each other.

"Mother?" Dani squeaked, her head whirling.

Peter laughed somewhat nervously, "Heh, heh – _ahem_ – well, no?" He actually seemed unsure of himself and Danielle side-eyed him, suspicious. "Uhm, no. That's... that's not what I had in mind."

Dani thought it might be something he had in mind _now_ , after it being suggested so randomly. Why in the hell's name would anyone think she was going to be their mother? Was that the sort of thing they did to girls around here? They were all staring at her with such curiosity, so enraptured as if they had never even seen a female before. This was freaking her out a bit, to say the very least.

Suddenly, she realized with a great fright, that she was _alone_ , on an island faraway and completely surrounded by boys – stupid, _stupid_ boys. Except for the little one, Filbert. He was the only one Dani could let slide with the whole, 'mother' thing. He was a sweetheart, she could tell.

"Well, I'm definitely not being anyone's mum," said Danielle sternly. "But I _have_ always wondered what it'd be like to have siblings. I suppose I could be a sister,"

"A sister?" Leaf repeated. He seemed skeptical, his arms crossed.

"Oooh, a sister could be fun!" said Tim and the rest of them agreed excitedly.

A merry Filbert latched himself onto Dani's leg, hugging her and she smiled, still vaguely weirded out by everything but easily willing to adapt, nonetheless.

"Supper looks great, boys!" boasted Peter, changing the direction of conversation. He was surveying the platters of fresh food they'd set on the long, oaken table. "You all hungry?"

"Starving!" exclaimed Filbert, turning about from Dani and running to his chair. Everyone followed, each taking a seat at the mismatched chairs and benches scattered along the sides of the table. "Sit here, Dani. Next to me," tiny Filbert suggested, just barely reaching his plate. Dani sat at the very end of the table and noted at once that Peter was all the way across from her at the head.

Like a king, he lounged there in his throne and waited patiently for all to settle down. "Dig in, friends!" he then gave the signal and everyone gladly obliged. Peter was the last to begin eating, simply enjoying the sight of all his boys – and his new visitor – sitting together for a meal.

It was only a few minutes later when the Lost Boys' curiosity became too great.

"Did you fly here with Peter?" asked Tim.

"Of course she did," Dash clipped, clearly one with a temper. "What are you, some kind of idiot?" All of them laughed, even Tim.

"If by fly," said Dani. "You mean get carried and then faint from a fear of heights, then yeah."

The boys snorted, chuckling and Peter was grinning slyly behind a scorched bird leg. "We'll get her flying in no time, right boys?"

"She can't fly?" questioned Leaf incredulously and Creek rolled his eyes. Creek was pretty quiet, unlike the others.

"Flying is easy!" added Dash and Tim enthusiastically nodded.

"Why can't you fly, Dani?" Filbert wondered innocently.

Danielle shrugged, "I haven't actually tried yet. I... was just, so sure in that moment that I wasn't going to be able to do it."

"You can do it," Peter told her confidently. "I know you can." She bristled, somewhat uncomfortable. Since her parents had died, Dani just wasn't really used to hearing words of faith or encouragement.

"If you say so, Peter," she said, but she was _not_ so sure.

"What is your age?" Leaf asked her after a while.

"Seventeen,"

"You're old!" said Dash and they all snickered.

Danielle made a noise, affronted. "I'm not _that_ old."

"She's almost as old as a pirate!" Leaf joked.

Peter disagreed, "I'd say she's far more like a mermaid," he was staring at her from under his heavy lids and Danielle could feel her cheeks blaze under his intense scrutiny.

"Yeah, definitely a mermaid," Filbert told them. "Just look at her hair!"

Dani was very bashful, caving in on herself. She felt all their eyes on her, fully taking in her appearance. She felt so warm – too warm, and grimy. Dani really needed a shower, or to bathe in general.

"Uhm, uh... how _does_ one go about bathing here? Is there running water?" she queried nervously.

"No, no running water," answered Creek politely, for the first time truly speaking. "We bathe at the Jade Oasis."

"It's a hot spring surrounded by pure, raw jade," said Leaf. "Its waters are healing."

"Oh wow. That sounds _so_ nice," Danielle told them, itching to get into that spring.

"I'll take you there whenever you like," Peter offered kindly.

"C-Could we go now?" she asked and he nodded.

"Sure," he said, standing and retrieving a pile of materials Dani had not before noticed. "Here, just some extra stuff I had lying around." Peter handed her a dress, but not your typical dress. It was woven with brown and green leaves, was vest-like and sleeveless. It seemed fitted yet with enough room to move around, and had a plunging neckline with tiny ropes connecting both sides together. There was also a long-sleeved tunic made of fishnet chainmail for her to put on underneath as a sort of sheer under-gown.

It was a bit.. _wild_ for her tastes but she felt thankful regardless. Dani was now on an island after all, and her cozy jumper and denim jeans were not exactly right for the climate here.

-o-  
  


**AN** : This was a weird place to leave off but I had to put Chapter Two out there. If you read this, thank you! I really hope you liked it and if you did, please leave it a review and follow for future updates. I have plans for this story, just my updates will be sporadic. Well wishes to you all.


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